memeorandum: Facebook takedowns show new Russian activity targeted Biden, praised Trump (Washington Post)

9:45 PM ET, October 21, 2019

Top Items:

Putin and Hungary's Orban helped sour Trump on Ukraine — President Trump's effort to pressure Ukraine for information he could use against political rivals came as he was being urged to adopt a hostile view of that country by its regional adversaries, including Russian President Vladimir Putin …

Discussion: CNN, Associated Press, The Week and Political Wire

Betsy Swan / The Daily Beast:
Mulvaney's Ukraine Story Undercut by Trump's Former Diplomat to the Country

Discussion: The Hill and Talking Points Memo

Amber Phillips / Washington Post:
A few Republican cracks on impeachment are showing

Discussion: Slate, The Guardian, POLITICUSUSA, The Hill, Raw Story, RedState, Breitbart and Hot Air

Philip Bump / Washington Post:
It's not just Giuliani: The intertwining team focused on Trump and Ukraine

Discussion: Talking Points Memo and Raw Story

Washington Post:

Facebook takedowns show new Russian activity targeted Biden, praised Trump — The company disabled a network of accounts that posed at times as locals in swing states to post on divisive political issues and the upcoming presidential election. — Facebook on Monday said it removed a network …

Discussion: Graphika, The Daily Beast and Engadget, more at Mediagazer »

Donie O'Sullivan / CNN:

Facebook: Russian trolls are back. And they're here to meddle with 2020 — New York (CNN Business)People linked to the Internet Research Agency, the Kremlin-backed troll group indicted by the United States for its alleged interference in the 2016 US presidential election …

Discussion: Political Wire

Facebook:
Removing More Coordinated Inauthentic Behavior From Iran and Russia

Discussion: NBC News, Raw Story, CBS San Francisco, NPR, ABC News, The Guardian, Mother Jones, Vox, New York Post, Bloomberg, The Verge and The Week, more at Techmeme »

Mike Isaac / New York Times:
Facebook Finds New Disinformation Campaigns and Braces for 2020 Torrent

Discussion: Facebook, TechCrunch, The Daily Caller and VICE, more at Mediagazer »

Wall Street Journal:

White House Personnel Director Told Trump That Top Candidates for Acting DHS Secretary Aren't Eligible — The White House personnel director told President Trump that neither Ken Cuccinelli nor Mark Morgan, top candidates for acting Department of Homeland Security secretary, aren't qualified under federal vacancies law.

Discussion: CNN, HuffPost, Talking Points Memo, The Hill, Law & Crime, The Week and Daily Kos

Daniel Lippman / Politico:

Trump aides nix his picks to take over DHS — President Donald Trump has been notified by his staff that he can't select two popular figures — Ken Cuccinelli and Mark Morgan — to serve as an acting secretary of homeland security because a federal law governing agency succession makes them ineligible.

Discussion: NPR and The Daily Caller

New York Times:
Trump Running Out of Options for Homeland Security Secretary

Discussion: Political Wire

Susan Page / USA Today:

Poll: Iowa caucuses are ‘up for grabs’ as Pete Buttigieg surges into top tier — It's a new three-way race in Iowa. — Pete Buttigieg, the mayor of South Bend, Indiana, who was initially seen as a long-shot presidential contender, has surged within striking distance of former vice president Joe Biden …

Bloomberg:
Mark Zuckerberg Has Quietly Recommended Campaign Hires to Pete Buttigieg

Discussion: Morning Consult, Vox, CNBC, Common Dreams, HuffPost, Politico, The Hill, Mediaite, Breitbart, New York Post, The Daily Caller, Raw Story, Talking Points Memo, The Week, National Review, VICE and Axios, more at Techmeme »

Dylan Scott / Vox:
We deserve a better Medicare-for-all debate

Discussion: Fox News, Associated Press and Politico

NBC News:

Pentagon draws up plans for quick Afghanistan withdrawal just in case Trump blindsides military — Officials cautioned, however, that the planning is a precaution and there is currently no White House directive to pull all U.S. troops out of Afghanistan. — WASHINGTON — The Pentagon …

Discussion: Patterico's Pontifications, Balloon Juice, Shareblue Media and Mediaite

Quint Forgey / Politico:
Trump warns U.S. ‘may have to get in wars’

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, ABC News, Occupy Democrats and Breitbart

Burgess Everett / Politico:
Trump might expose whistleblower, Schumer tells Intel officials

Discussion: The Hill and The Gateway Pundit

Wall Street Journal:

Private Photos of Indicted Donor Depict Ties to Trump, Giuliani — Dating back to 2015, the private Instagram account of Lev Parnas, a Ukrainian-American indicted for illegal campaign donations, appears to show VIP access to President Trump and a close relationship with Rudy Giuliani.

Discussion: Raw Story, emptywheel, CANNONFIRE and Talking Points Memo

Gary Fineout / Politico:
Indicted Giuliani associate joined DeSantis on last-minute campaign swing

Discussion: Raw Story

Heidi Przybyla / NBC News:

House Democrats zero in on ‘abuse of power’ in Trump impeachment inquiry — Pelosi is said to favor one sweeping charge related to Ukraine, but there's some debate about the need for additional charges. — WASHINGTON — House Democrats are zeroing in on a framework for their impeachment case …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, CANNONFIRE, Daily Kos, The Gateway Pundit, The Hill, POLITICUSUSA and Political Wire

CNN:
Democrats see impeachment proceedings taking longer than some initially expected

Discussion: POLITICUSUSA, twitchy.com and Political Wire

The Guardian:

Facebook reports Russia's ‘well-resourced operation’ to meddle in 2020 US election - as it happened — Facebook discloses it has taken down a new foreign interference operation that appears to be linked to a Russian troll agency - follow the latest — We're wrapping up today's politics coverage.

Discussion: Raw Story and Political Wire

Juliegrace Brufke / The Hill:
House rejects GOP measure censuring Schiff

Discussion: Townhall, ABC News, Raw Story, Occupy Democrats and The Gateway Pundit

Louis Casiano / Fox News:
Impeachment inquiry will stay on track after Cummings' death, acting Oversight Committee Chair Maloney says

Discussion: Politico

Justin Rohrlich / Quartz:

Trump admin apparently over Khashoggi killing, will attend Saudi's ‘Davos in the Desert’ — US Treasury secretary Steven Mnuchin and presidential son-in-law and senior adviser Jared Kushner plan to attend this year's “Davos in the Desert,” a Saudi Arabian economic conference the US …

Glenn Kessler / Washington Post:
Trump's claim the Saudis will pay ‘100 percent of the cost’

Discussion: One America News Network, Agence France-Presse and Mother Jones

Tucker Higgins / CNBC:

Trump is ‘fully prepared’ to take military action against Turkey if needed, Mike Pompeo says — “We prefer peace to war,” Secretary of State Mike Pompeo tells CNBC's Wilfred Frost. “But in the event that kinetic action or military action is needed, you should know that President Trump is fully prepared to undertake that action.”

Discussion: NBC Universal, Raw Story, Hot Air and Daily Kos

Jonathan Chait / New York Magazine:

Why Congress Might Impeach Trump and Actually Remove Him From Office — If you have seen the 1995 movie Casino, the fate of Joe Pesci's character gives a fairly good sense of how Donald Trump might eventually be impeached and removed from office. If you haven't seen Casino, Pesci's character …

Discussion: No More Mister Nice Blog, One America News Network and Washington Examiner

Ben Ashford / Daily Mail:

Ilhan Omar, 37, is not only dating, but living ‘on and off’ with her married campaign aide Tim Mynett, 38, in Washington DC, DailyMail.com can reveal — DailyMail.com has obtained photographic evidence that confirms Omar and Mynett have been hooking up whenever she is in DC for congressional work.

Discussion: Power Line and twitchy.com

Josh Dawsey / Washington Post:

Trump's Cabinet meetings have become about everything but the business of his Cabinet — The Debrief: An occasional series offering a reporter's insights — The Cabinet meeting was billed as a discussion of the administration's “successful rollback of the abuses and the high cost of the bloated regulatory state.”

Discussion: Vanity Fair

Courtney Hagle / Media Matters for America:

CNN hired Sean Duffy, who immediately pushed conspiracy theories that CNN had already debunked — CNN's new hire, former Rep. Sean Duffy (R-WI), has used his first two appearances on the network to push a conspiracy theory that has already been widely debunked — including by CNN's own reporting.

Discussion: Mediaite and Althouse

Associated Press:
Trump viewed Ukraine as adversary, not ally, witnesses say

Discussion: The Daily Beast and Mediaite

Cosmopolitan:

Teen Models Remember Trump Would “Find a Reason” to Come Backstage When They Were Changing — In exclusive excerpts from the explosive new book — , “Nobody has more respect for women than me!” Although his sordid history with women has been well-documented (to date,

Carol Thompson / Lansing State Journal:

Dozens of new websites appear to be Michigan local news outlets, but with political bent — 2019 Lansing city council candidates share what they believe to be the biggest concern for the city of Lansing and its residents — LANSING — Dozens of websites branded as local news outlets …

Discussion: Nieman Lab, The Pew Charitable Trusts and Political Wire, more at Mediagazer »

Associated Press:

Residents of northeast Syria city pelt departing US troops — AKCAKALE, Turkey (AP) — Angry over the U.S. withdrawal, residents of a Kurdish-dominated Syrian city hurled potatoes at departing American military vehicles as they drove by on Monday. Defense Secretary Mark Esper said U.S. troops …

Discussion: Defense News, Shareblue Media, Hot Air, Common Dreams, Disrn and Daily Kos

New York Times:
ISIS Reaps Gains of U.S. Pullout From Syria

Discussion: New York Post and Washington Post

Linnaea Honl-Stuenkel / CREW:

Trump Conflicts of Interest Top 2,500, CREW Releases Live Tracker — If President Trump's leadership sometimes feels haphazard and temperamental, it's in contrast to one area where he seems to maintain a laser focus: Trying to use the presidency to enrich himself through the private businesses he still owns as president.

Discussion: The Bulwark and Washington Post

CREW: Tracking President Trump's Unprecedented Conflicts of Interest

Kate Storey / Esquire:

‘One Grotesque Irony After Another’: Inside the Rise and Fall of Gawker 2.0 — Last year, Bryan Goldberg revealed big plans for his relaunch of Gawker, then postponed it indefinitely while laying off the whole staff. Now, there's serious talk of reviving it yet again. Here's what happened behind the scenes.

more at Mediagazer »

Naveed Jamali / Newsweek:

Tulsi Gabbard Is Being Used by the Russians, and to a Former US Double Agent, the Evidence Is Clear | Opinion — , NEWSWEEK COLUMNIST, FORMER FBI DOUBLE AGENT AND THE AUTHOR OF “HOW TO CATCH A RUSSIAN SPY” — Much has been made of Hillary Clinton's implication that Tulsi Gabbard is someone Russia has “their eye on.”

Discussion: twitchy.com

The Editorial Board:

It's Official: the Press Failed Hillary Clinton and America in 2016 — New State Department report implicitly indicts media behavior. — There's only one thing in my mind that captures the absurdity and exhaustion of our present moment more than the dustup last weekend between Hillary Clinton and Tulsi Gabbard.